Air conditioning unit



May 24, 1960 w MA$|N ETAL AIR CONDITIONING UNIT Filed Feb. 27. 1957INVENTOR. WILLIAM MASIN.

IRVING R PEARSON.

ATTORNEY.

United States Patent AIR 0NDITIONIN G UNIT William Masin, Eayside, andIrving P. Pearson, New York, N.Y., assignors to Carrier Corporation,Syracuse, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 27, 1957, Ser. No.642,833

t Claims. (Cl. 98-38) This invention relates to air conditioning, andmore particularly to an improved room unit of the induction type whichcan be easily adapted for different modes oi installation.

In Carrier Patent No. 2,363,294, granted November 21, 1944, there isdisclosed an air conditioning system wherein primary air is conditionedat a central source and passed through conduits to a plurality of roomunits which are positioned in various areas to be conditioned. Each roomunit includes a heat exchange coil through which hot or cold water, asdesired, is circulated. The primary air is discharged into the unit insuch a manner as to induce secondary air to flow from the room to beconditioned into contact with the heat exchanger in the room unit. Theprimary and secondary air are then mixed in the room unit and dischargedinto the room to be conditioned. It is with this general type of systemthat the improved room unit ofthe present invention is adapted to beused.

In the past, a room unit of the above-mentioned type has been generallyfabricated so that without and momfication it could either be installedentirely within the room to be conditioned or with a portion onlycommunicating with the room, the remainder of the unit, in the latterinstance, usually being housed within a wall as set forth in the Stacey,Jr. et al., Patent No. 1,878,012, granted September 20, 1932. Oneshortcoming of this type of unit has been that it operated with the samedegree of efficiency regardless of the mode of installation. However, itis desirable that a room unit of the above-mentioned type give theutmost eflicieucy commensurate with its mode of installation.

It is therefore thechief object of this invention to provide aninduction-type room unit which can be fabricated at the factory but canbe easily modified in the field for installation entirely Within a roomor with only a portion thereof communicating with the room so that ineither instance it can operate with utmost eificiency commensurate withthe type of installation.

Another object of this invention is to provide an induction-type of roomunit which is susceptible of being installed in a plurality of differentways where space is at a premium, such as a ship, without necessitatingextensive modifications thereof at the time of installation.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a room unit ofthe induction-type with a condensate dis posal construction which isparticularly adapted for efficiently disposing of condensate from theunit under conditions where the unit is susceptible of being tilted fromside to side, such as on a ship. Other objects and attendant advantagesof the present invention will be come readily apparent hereafter.

The present invention relates to a room unit of the induction typewherein primary air, which is supplied thereto from a remote source, isdischarged through nozzles therein to induce secondary air from a room,

into-the unit, said secondary air being mixed with the primary air andthen discharged into the room. If the unit is to be mounted so that onlyone side thereof projects into a room to be conditioned, secondaryair isinduced into the unit through this side, passed through an air intakeduct, and the mixture of primary and secondary air is discharged throughthis same side. However, if the room unit is to be mounted entirelywithin.

a room to be conditioned, a plate, which forms a part of the casing forthe unit in the foregoing instance and which is located on the upstreamside of the heat exchange coil, is removed to allow secondary air to beinduced through the aperture provided by the removal of the plate thusproviding a shorter path through the unit for the secondary air. It canbe seen that the unit can operate more efficiently when it is placedentirely within a room to be conditioned since the secondary airflowpath therethrough is shortened. Thus, the'room unit of the presentinvention can be fabricated at the factory and with relatively minormodifications in the field can be adapted for either of the above typesof installation, as required. Furthermore, the efliciency of the unitisdependent on its mode of installation, that is, it can operate moreefiiciently whenever it is located wholly within a room. Thus theefliciency of the unit is not limited by its construction but isvariable in accordance with its mode of installation.

The room unit of the present invention contains a heat exchange coilwhich can be placed in a plurality of different positions. There is onlyone inlet connection and one outlet connection to the heat exchangecoil, thus reducing its cost. However, with a minimum of tools the heatexchange coil may be bodily removed from the.

unit and orientated in one of four different positions so as to allowthe inlet connection to be most conveniently positioned for connectionwith the source of heating or cooling fluid for the heat exchanger.

The room unit of the present invention contains a condensate disposalarrangement which permits proper condensate drainage under conditionswhere the unit is sub-' ject to constant tilting from side to side, suchas on a ship. To this end, a condensate drainage pan is built integrallywith the bottom of the unit and has drain connections positioned atopposite sides thereof to allow condensate to drain from either side ofthe unit as it tilts from side-to-side.

A better understanding of the present invention will" Figure 2 is asectional view taken through plane 11-115 of Figure l;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the rear and bottom portions of roomunit; 7

Figure 4 is an isometric view showing the details of the mechanism foradjusting the amount of primary air flow through the room unit;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the drain pan of the room unitgandFigure 6 is a view taken on line VI-VI of Figure 1.

In Figures 1 and 2, the room unit ltl of the present invention is shownwhich consists of a plenum chamber 11 which is adapted to receive asupply of primary contioned air from a central source (not shown) bymeans of a conduit (not shown) which is adapted tobe joined to opening12 in the side of unit 19'. I It is to be notedthat the unit It) has anopening 12 at each end of plenum.

chamber 11 thus permitting the primary air to be brought mating cap (notshown).

which is discharged from plenum chamber 11 is controlled by anadjustable metering plate 13 which is adapted to meter the amount ofprimary air flow through orifice 14 (Figure 2). The structure and modeof operation of the metering arrangement is fully described in theoopending application of Carlyle M. Ashley, Serial No. 559,061, filedJanuary 13, 1956, and reference is made thereto for a completedescription thereof. The primary air supplied to plenum chamber 11 ispassed through orifice 14 into secondary chamber 15 and then dischargedinto the room unit through nozzles 16 (Figures 1 and 2) as set forth inthe above-mentioned copending application. The structure of the nozzlesis fully described in the copending application of Carlyle M. Ashley andWilliam H. Roberts, Serial No. 559,062, filed January 13, 1956, andreference is made thereto for a complete description thereof.

The above-described structure is housed in a casing consisting of thefollowing metal (or any other suitable material) parts: upper frontplate 17, top-and-rear plate 18, drain pan 19, removable cover 20, andsides 21 and 22. Plate 17 is attached to inwardly turned flanges (notshown) on side plates 21 and 22 by fastening elements such as sheetmetal screws 23. Top-and-rear plate 18 is affixed to sides 21 and 22 inthe same manner so as to provide a lapped, substantially air-tightconnection between these members. The front portion 24 of plate 18 isbeveled so as to form a lapped joint with the rear end of plate 17, asshown in Figures 1 and 2. Drain pan 19 has upwardly turned flanges 25and 26 along the sides thereof (Figure through which screws 23 areadapted to be placed for affixing the drain pan 19 to sides 22 and 21,respectively. The removable cover 20 is adapted to be lapfitted withflanges (not shown) of sides 21 and 22 by means of sheet metal screws 27(Figure 3) having handles thereon for permitting the cover 20 to bemanually unfastened from the remainder of the casing. Removable cover20, in its assembled position on the casing, Figures 2 and 3, fitsinside of upwardly turned flange 28 of drain pan 19 and outside offlange 29 of top-and-rear plate 18 so as to form a lapped connectionwith these flanges.

A heat exchange coil 30 is adapted to be placed within the casing in thefollowing manner, attention being directed to Figure 6 which is asection taken along line VI-VI of Figure 1: Side 21 has an openingtherein (not numbered) the boundaries of which are flanges 31. Heatexchange coil 30 may have one of its fins formed into a channel member32. The channel member constitutes mounting means for supporting thecoil in said openings and for sealing off the openings. Flanges 31 andchannel member 32 are in contact with each other when the heat exchanger30 is in its assembled position. Side 22 of the casing has similarstructure. Sheet metal screws (not numbered) may join elements 31 and 32or coil 30 may be supported by these elements by a friction fit, asdesired. An inlet valve 33 is adapted to be connected to a source of hotor cold water for supplying this medium to tubing 34 of the heatexchanger. A fluid outlet tube 35 is also provided, as shown inFigure 1. Depending on where the room unit is to be installed and on theposition of the supply conduits for the conditioning medium, the heatexchange coil 30 may be slid out of its contact with sides 21 and 22 bymerely removing top and rear plate 18, as shown in Figure 2. The heatexchanger 30 can then be inverted, turned endover-end, or both and thenre-inserted so as to place the inlet valve 33 and outlet 35 in any oneof four different positions.

The room unit is adapted to be installed either entirely within a roomto be conditioned or with only the front portion thereof projectingthrough a wall. If the latter installation is used, flanges 36, 37, 38and 39 (Figure 1), which are formed from various of the casing members,are used to provide a flush fit with the wall.

an air discharge chamber.

During the latter type of operation, all of the primary air which isdischarged from nozzles 16 induces secondary air to flow from the frontof the unit into intake chamber 40 of the casing, through air filter 41,and heat exchange coil 30. The primary and secondary air are mixed inchamber 42 and then discharged from the unit. It is to be noted that theplenum chamber 11 substantially divides the easing into an air intakechamber and However, plate 43 (Figures 1 and 2), which is suitableaffixed to the sides of the casing, further divides these chambers so asto aid in avoiding short-circuiting of the incoming and outgoing air. Anair inlet is defined between sides 21 and 22, drain pan 19 and plate 43and an air outlet is defined between sides 21 and 22, plate 17 and plate43. Suitable grillework (not shown) may be installed within the openingin the front of the room unit.

Under certain circumstances, it is desirable to place the room unitentirely within the room to be conditioned. Under these circumstances,it is no longer necessary to draw' secondary air through the front ofthe unit and through the entire length of chamber 40. Cover plate 20(Figures 2 and 3) is removed by merely manually unfastening screws 27,When this is done, the unit induces the flow of secondary air throughthe aperture provided by the removal of cover plate 20. It can thus beseen that the room unit 10 can be made to operate more efficiently whenit is located entirely within a room because the air drop losses whichare experienced when the unit draws air through chamber 40 is avoidedwhen cover 20 is removed.

A filter 41 (Figure 2) is adapted to be placed in the unit 10 forfiltering the secondary air passing therethrough. An angular bracket 44is suitably affixed, as by welding, to side 22. A similar bracket (notshown) is afiixed to side 21. One end of filter 41 is adapted to rest onbracket 44 and its counterpart. The other end of filter 41 is adapted torest on flange 29 of top and rear plate 18. A camrning member 45protrudes through plate 18 to fasten the filter securely in position. Inorder to clean the filter 41 it is only necessary to use a vacuumcleaning device, access to the filter 41 being obtained through theaperture provided by the removal of cover plate 20. If it is necessaryto remove filter 41 for any reason, camrning member 45 is loosened, and,as can be seen from Figure 2, the filter may be pivoted in acounterclockwise direction away from flange 29, moved to the right awayfrom bracket 44, and then removed from unit 10 through the apertureprovided by the removal of cover plate 20. Filter 41 can be re-insertedby merely performing the foregoing manipulations in reverse.

From time to time during operation of unit 10, condensate will form onheat exchange coil 30. It is desirable that this condensate be properlydisposed of. To this end, drain pan 19, which forms the bottom of thecasing, is used. Since the room unit 10 is fabricated for horizontalinstallation, any condensate which forms on heat exchange coil 30 willtend to run down the inclined heat exchange fins 46 until the lowermostcor" ners thereof are reached (see Figure 2). The condensate will thendrip from heat exchanger 30 into the rear portion 47 of drain pan 19,this rear portion being bounded by flanges 28, 25, 26 and an anglemember 48 which is welded to the drain pan 19. The rear portion 47,which thus forms a condensate trough, has drain fittings 49 and 50 whichcan be connected to suitable drain hoses (not shown) to carry away thecondensate which is formed. As can be seen from Figure 5, thepositioning of the drain fittings 49 and 50 on opposite sides of thedrain pan will permit condensate to be disposed of from either side ofthe unit as it tilts from side to side when it is used on board ship. Toprevent condensate from leaking on the floor from the heat exchangertubes 34 which extend beyond the sides of the unit (Figure l), a gutter51 is suitably attached to side 21 and a similar assesses gutter (notshown) is attached to side 22. Condensate from these portions of tubes34 will fall into the gutters 51 from which it will run down the insideof sides 21 and 22 to the drain pan 19 to be disposed of in the abovedescribed manner.

When the unit is installed in a wall, that is when the cover plate 20 isused, the amount of secondary air which is induced into the unit may bevaried, without disturbing the amount of primary air flowing from theunit. Because of this feature, the temperature of the air flowing fromthe unit can be adjusted to a limited degree by varying the amount ofsecondary air which is mixed with the primary air. Furthermore, byvarying the amount of secondary air flovving through the unit, theamount of draft produced by room unit 10 can be controlled becausevarying the secondary air supply causes a direct change in the totalamount of air discharged from the unit. To achieve the foregoingresults, a damper 52 is affixed to hinges 53 which are fastened tobrackets 54 which are in turn suitably fastened to the out side ofplenum chamber 11. Spring 55 extends between the outside of plenumchamber 11 and damper 52 and tends to bias the latter in an openposition. A chain 56 is affixed to the damper and is adapted to coactwith slotted bracket 57 attached to flange 39. By placing the desiredportion of chain 56 within the slot in bracket 57, the position ofdamper 52 can be adjusted to achieve the foregoing results.

Depending on various conditions, it is often desirable to vary theamount of primary air which is being discharged from plenum 11. Thebasic structure of the metering arrangement is fully set forth in theabovementioned application, Serial No. 559,061. However, this structurehas been modified in order to obviate the necessitiy of removing thegrille (not shown) on the front of the unit to effect the desiredadjustment. To this end, a strut 58 (Figures 1 and 4) is affixed to andextends between top plate 17 and air-dividing plate 43. A bolt 59 isthreaded through strut 58 and extends through lost motion slot 60 inlever arm 61. Compression spring 62 extends between stop member 63 andwasher 64 on bolt 59, and nut 65 holds the foregoing assembly together.When it is desired to vary the amount of primary air flowing from plenumchamber 11, it is only necessary to insert a screwdriver through thegrille on the front of the room unit 10 to turn bolt 59. This will causelever arm 61 to pivot and in turn cause the metering arrangementdescribed in said application, Serial No. 559,061, to vary the primaryair flow.

While we have described a preferred embodiment of our invention, it willbe understood that the invention is not limited thereto since it mayotherwise be embodied within the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A room air conditioning unit of the induction type comprising acasing having a top, a bottom and side walls, one end of the casingbeing closed by an end wall having upper and lower removable port-ionsand the other end of the casing being open so as to communicate with theroom to be air conditioned, a plenum chamber mounted in said casingadjacent said open end intermediate the top and bottom of the casing andextending from side wall to side wall, said plenum chamber serving toseparate the casing into an air intake chamber and an air dischargechamber, said plenum chamber being spaced from the closed end of thecasing to form a passageway between the intake and discharge chambers,an opening in a side wall in communication with said plenum chamberadapted to communicate with a source of primary air, means connected tothe casing in the open end thereof to divide the open end into an inletand an outlet, said inlet communicating with said intake chamber andsaid outlet communicating with said discharge chamber, nozzle means fordischarging primary air from said plenum chamber into said air dischargechamber, a heat exchanger mounted in said passageway upstream of saidnozzle means whereby when only the open end of the casing is incommunication with the.

room, secondary air from the room is induced through said inlet intosaid intake chamber over said heat exchanger and discharged from thedischarge chamber through said outlet by the flow of primary air throughsaid nozzle means and out of said outlet into the room and when the unitis in the room, removal of the lower portion of the end wall provides asecond opening in said casing for allowing said secondary air to beinduced therethrough for passage over said heat exchanger.

2. A room unit as set forth in claim 1 wherein the side walls areoppositely disposed and each side wall has an opening therein extendingto the outer edge and mountingmeans on each end of said heat exchangersupported in said openings and closing off the openings whereby whensaid upper removable portion of the end wall is removed, the heatexchanger may be reversed end over end so that connections may be madefrom either side of the casing.

3. A room air conditioning unit of the induction type adapted for use onboard a ship comprising a casing having a top, a bottom and side walls,one end of the casing being closed by an end wall having upper and lowerremovable portions and the other end of the casing being open so as tocommunicate with the room to be air conditioned, said bottom of thecasing constituting a drain pan having drain connections mounted onopposite sides thereof to permit condensate to be discharged from eitherside of the drain pan as the ship tilts cfrom side .-to side, a plenumchamber mounted in said casing adjacent said open end intermediate thetop and bottom of the casing and extending :from side wall to side wall,said plenum chamber serving to separate the casing into an air intakechamber and an air discharge chamber, said plenum chamber being spacedfrom the closed end of the casing to form a passageway between theintake and discharge chambers, an opening in a side wall incommunication vvith'said plenum chamber adapted to communicate with asource of primary air, means connected to the casing in the open endthereof to divide the open end into an inlet and an outlet, said inletcommunicating with said intake chamber and said outlet communicatingwith said discharge chamber, nozzle means for discharging primary airfrom said plenum chamber into said air discharge chamber, a heatexchanger mounted in said passageway upstream of said nozzle meanswhereby when only the open end of the casing is in communication withthe room, secondary air from the room is induced through said inlet intosaid intake chamber over said heat exchanger and discharged from thedischarge chamber through said outlet by the flow of primary air throughsaid nozzle means and out of said outlet into the room and when the unitis in the room, removal of the lower portion of the end wall provides asecond opening in said casing for allowing said secondary air to beinduced therethrough for passage over said heat exchanger.

4. A room air conditioning unit of the induction type comprising acasing having a top, a bottom and side walls, one end of the casingbeing closed by an end wall having upper and lower removable portionsand the other end of the casing being open so as to communicate with theroom to be air conditioned, a plenum chamber mounted on said casingadjacent said open end intermediate the top and bottom of the casingsaid plenum chamber extending from side wall to side Wall and serving toseparate the casing into an air intake chamber and an air dischargechamber, a plate member secured to the casing in the open end thereofand separating the open end into an air inlet and an air outlet, the airinlet and air outlet communicating with the intake chamber and dischargechamber, respectively, an opening in a side wall in communication withsaid plenum chamber and adapted to communicate with the source ofprimary air, nozzle means for dis 7 charging primary air from saidplenum chamber into the air discharge chamber for discharge through saidair outlet into the room, said plenum chamber being spaced from theclosed end of the casing to form a passageway between the intake anddischarge chambers, a heat exchanger mounted in said passageway upstreamof said nozzle means, said air inlet opening into said air intakechamber relatively remote from said heat exchanger, whereby when onlythe open end of the casing is in communication with the room, secondaryair from the room to be air conditioned is induced through said airinlet into said air intake chamber over said heat exchanger anddischarged from the air discharge chamber through said air outlet intothe room by the flow of primary air through said nozzle means andthrough said outlet into the room,

and when the unit is in the room, the lower portion of the end wall isremoved providing a second opening in said casing relatively near saidheat exchanger from permitting secondary air to be induced therethroughfor passage over said heat exchanger.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

